The September Design a Drill of the Week contest winner comes from an active duty Major in the U.S. Marine Corps who has asked not to be identified. He didn’t have a name for the drill, so we just made one up. 8)

The drill provides a way to do color-shape drills by oneself. Such drills as useful for adding target identification, shoot / no-shoot discrimination, and a level of stress to a workout.

Take a standard deck of cards. Staple any random four to six cards up and place at a challenging distance (3-5 yards for most shooters). Turn over a card from the remaining deck and if a hung card is the same color, suit, or number engage from the holster. If it is an Ace on the target backer, shot must touch the shape, not just the card. If the card doesn’t match, shake it out, and draw another.

There are countless variations you could throw into the mix. For example, if you wished to incorporate other skills into the drill you could follow a set of rules as follows:

odd number cards: fire one round at the card

even number cards: fire two rounds at the card

Jack: fire strong hand only

Queen: fire weak hand only

King: shoot, reload, shoot two more

Etc. The options are endless. Change the drill to suit (pardon the pun) whatever skills you want to practice. By making the exact drill random from card to card, you are forced to work more on demand than at your own pace.

Training with firearms is an inherently dangerous activity. Be sure to follow all safety protocols when using firearms or practicing these drills. These drills are provided for information purposes only. Use at your own risk.